Caraval, by Stephanie Garber (BOOK REVIEW)

 

"Welcome, welcome to Caraval! The grandest show on land or by sea. Inside you’ll experience more wonders than most people see in a lifetime. You can sip magic from a cup and buy dreams in a bottle. But before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game.”

Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful and cruel father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.
But this year, Scarlett's long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to attend. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season's Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, and her sister disappears forever.

“The boy who’d saved her from drowning in more ways than one.”

Wow. This book was an absolute whirlwind. First things first, this book is very popular. And I mean very popular. Everyone book-nerd knows about this book. It's been all over "booktok" for years now. I just had to see what all the rave was about. 

The immediate vibes got me super locked in. Every little detail of this book is so eerie and mysterious. I was so intrigued with where the plot would go next. I think that the world building was done very well. I truly felt like I was at the enchanted island of Caraval. The magic system and overall idea of a magical circus was very interesting. I loved the circus vibes. I've never read a book that is remotely close to this one, so it was very refreshing to read something so original. The plot twists were done so well! I was gasping at every turn. I loved the high stakes that the entire plot had. Deadly games are my cuppa' tea. 

I will say that I kind of read this book with my eyes partly closed and partly opened; figuratively speaking. The sisters in this book deal with an abusive father so that whole side of it was quite disturbing. There was also a lot of crude humor that I really didn't enjoy reading. Obviously, in this day and age you gotta' have a backbone for these sorts of things, but I still would rather not read stuff like that. The same thing goes for the romance; it was all very graphic. Thankfully there weren't any "adult scenes", but every kissing scene or whatever, was very detailed. These sorts of things really ruined my overall experience with this book. It was definitely not too bad, but it was close to crossing the line. 

I really like Garber's writing. Talking to my friends about this book is interesting because they seem to have a very differing opinion on the writing style. I actually thought it was very immersive and whimsical. I didn't find myself wanting to skip any paragraphs to get to the "good part".  It was like, every word on the page was important and written with intention. Because of that, I got some really good quotes. 

I kind of touched on the romance before, but I have a lot more to say on that. I have so many mixed feelings! I think that it was a little rushed, but I've read worse. Obviously it was cute, but I think the thing that really annoyed me was how much their attraction toward one another was built on looks and flirting. Most romances, like this one, that have no concept of Jesus whatsoever, are just built on plain lust. That really bothers me; but like I said, with these kinds of books, you have to just deal with it. I'm not saying that it was altogether bad; some parts were really cute and "giggle-worthy". 

I did like the characters in this book. The main character, Scarlett, wasn't annoying in my opinion. Usually when the females are main characters, they're all girl-bossy. But thankfully, this wasn't one of those books. Scarlett's love-interest, Julian was a great guy. I mean, he was definitely "morally-grey", but he was a fun character. He was like a mix of, Thorne from the Lunar Chronicles, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and Jameson from the Inheritance Games. Tada, you have Julian Santos. The humor that Julian brought to this book was top-notch. 

I loved the sister-dynamic in this book. That was a really cool part of the entire plot. I saw a review on this book saying that it was a Sense and Sensibility-type sisterhood. I think I agree. The bond that Scarlett shared with her sister, Tella, was really wholesome to read. I think that is probably the only moral value this book has. 

Even with all of the cons, this book definitely had lots of pros. I had a really fun time reading it. If I were to do it all over again, I would have probably waited another year until I started it, but it wasn't terrible. All in all, this was a solid, spellbinding and insanely whimsical fantasy. 

“Relax, Crimson—” 

“It’s Scarlett.” 

“Same difference.”

I give this book an 8 out of 10 and recommend it to ages 15+

PRESS HERE to purchase this book. 

Happy Reading!

-Ariana :)